Page 67 of Fated to Her

“This is so embarrassing,” I tell him, folding my arms across my chest, annoyed at his behavior.

“Endure it, and I will let you call your mother,” Cyrus says, holding up a phone.

It resembles more of a brick than a phone, but I’ll use it if it means being able to call home. Eli drops his big furry body on top of me, his paws beside my head.

He licks my neck, and I swear I feel him laugh when he licks my face, making me cringe and push him away. He rubs his face all over me, his fur tickling my exposed skin. He nudges my arms with his nose wanting me to move them, and I lift my arms. He pushes my shirt up with his cold nose before rubbing his face all over my belly. He licks my belly button, and I feel our baby nudge him. Eli sticks the tip of his nose in my belly button, and it kicks again, making me smile and lift my head to peer down at my stomach.

Cyrus wanders over to me, and Eli sits back while Cyrus places his hand on the bump. Eli shifts back but is absorbed by the weird sensation I feel as my belly bumps against Cyrus’s hand. Eli’s hands go to the bottom of my belly before he leans down, kissing it.

“Hello, baby,” he whispers to it. I run my fingers through his hair, and he looks up at me.

“Another month, and we will get to meet him or her. My guess is a boy, though,” Cyrus says, making me look up at him.

“Why a boy?”

“Smells like a boy,” he says with a shrug.

“Smells like a boy?”

“Noticed it over the years. Pregnant women’s scent is usually stronger when carrying a boy.”

Eli nods, and I rub my fingers across his face, his stubble scratching my palm.

“Come on, you should eat,” Eli says, and Cyrus grabs Eli’s shorts from the floor, and hands them to him.

We walk out to where everyone is gathering, and Eli pulls me along to a table where his sister and father are talking to Porter; the move-over allows us to sit when Eli pulls me on his lap. I try to sit beside him, but he isn’t having it. I do notice, however, that everyone present keeps glancing in our direction; some even outright stare, making me uncomfortable.

A few people do approach, but one growl from Eli sends them on their way. Maverick, I can tell, is becoming annoyed at his son’s behavior, and so am I. It is rather embarrassing, but Eli doesn’t care for my embarrassment or his father’s growing anger. After about twenty minutes, everyone who’s tried to approach Maverick to talk to him stops coming over, and Maverick turns his glare on Eli.

“Son, they are going to approach. Will you stop scaring them off? They just want to talk to me and meet Addie. You are being a little too domineering. They have every right to approach the table.”

“Not while Addie is at it, they won’t.”

“They mean no harm. They just want to meet the future mother of my grandchild,” Maverick tells him.

Suddenly a fight breaks out at one of the tables between two men. The woman in between jumps out of their way as they trade blows.

“Exactly why I don’t want them near her,” Eli says, glaring at his father.

“They are just settling a disagreement. You know this will be over soon. It always is.”

“Yes, but it is barbaric that you let this go on,” Eli tells him.

Maverick sighs. “Best they deal with it at the gathering, so it is done with, Eli. In the forest, there is no one to break it up if they get out of hand.”

And sure enough, as soon as one of them shifts, a few other men get up and separate the two; one of them is hauled away while he spits out blood, growling at the younger-looking man.

“Why are they fighting, though?” I ask.

“Just a show of power. Here we have a hierarchy. The younger-looking one has been fighting for third in command. The man hauled away is my current third,” Maverick explains.

“So, they fight?”

“Yes, it’s how we settle differences and see who is more worthy,” Porter tells me, which would explain the number of scars that litter his body, making me wonder how many times he has been challenged.

Maverick notices my stare and chuckles. “No one has beaten Porter in two hundred and fifty years. They stopped trying for his title. He is one of my most trained men. Don’t worry. No one will come over to challenge him.”

Eli presses his face in my hair, inhaling my scent. We eat dinner, and the wild boar isn’t at all like I expected it to be, though the burned hair is rather disgusting when I get some in my mouth before spitting it out. For the most part, people chat and eat. A few more fights break out, but toward the end of the night, I’m kind of growing used to it. As everyone is finishing, one of the pack members raises his hand like they do in school. Maverick turns his head in his direction, and everyone falls silent, listening to what he wants to ask. The man stands after Maverick nods to him.